Emil  G.  Hirsch. 

My  Religion  and  the  War  (1918) 


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My  Religion 

and 

The  War 


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A    DISCOURSE 
EMIL  G.  HIRSCH 


Gift    of  /    ^ 

Elaine    and   Allen   Avner 
in   memory   of    their   parent 
Herman    and   Pearl    Seltzer    Sweital 

and  ^  ¥r^      f 

Sim   and,  Laura   Moore    ,_  ,, 

tflOIS  KisfORiCAL  SURV 


University  of  Illinois 
at  Urbana-Champaign 


I  ^ 


My  Religion  and  the  War 


A  Discourse  by  Emil  G,  Hirsch 

April  14,  1918 


Revised  from  a  stenographic  report. 


Lev.  XIX 


"We  know  now  that  life  and  limb,  time,  talent 
and  treasure  belong-  to  our  nation,  none  of  us  will 
keep  back." — Hirsch  Reform  Advocate,   April     1917. 


/y^^^^my 


J7N  some  very  learned  books  on  the  art  of  preach- 
11  ing  the  advice  is  given  the  preacher  to  preface 
every  sermon  with  a  fervent  appeal  addressed  to 
God  for  the  gift  of  grace  and  such  power  of  speech  as 
will  stir  the  minds  and  thrill  the  hearts  of  his  congre- 
gation. In  many  parts  of  the  older  continent  this  cus- 
tom is  observed  in  both  Jewish  and  non-Jewish  pul- 
pits, in  our  land  and  usually  on  this  platform  it  has 
been  honored  more  in  the  breach.  Today  I  certainly 
have  good  cause  for  petitioning  God  for  aid  and  guid- 
ance. More  than  ever  before  am  I  impressed  with 
the  wisdom  of  the  Rabbi's  caution  bidding  even  wise 
men  have  a  care  of  their  words.  The  power  of  articu- 
late language  is  the  distinguishing  faculty  of  man. 
The  old  translators  gave  to  the  Hebrew  phrase 
Nephesh  'hayah  by  which  Adam  is  dignified  in  the  old 
Creation  story  the  value  of  the  speaking  being.  Their 
rendering  witnesses  forsooth  to  their  fullness  of  in- 
sight into  the  distinguishing  capacity  of  our  manhood. 
But  this  very  qualification  exposes  men  to  risks 
which  sometimes  are  by  no  means  to  be  reckoned 
slight.  Somebody  has  likened  words  to  a  stone  which 
after  leaving  the  hand  of  him  who  throws  it  can 
neither  be  recalled  nor  be  controlled  in  its  free  flight. 
Psychologists  know  that  the  art  of  hearing  is  still 
more  difficult  and  rare  than  that  of  speaking.  In 
printed  livery  even  words  are  not  protected  against 
the  intrusion  of  the  sympathies  and  antipathies,  the 
prejudices  and  the  partialities  dormant  in  the  mind 
and  the  heart  of  the  reader.  After  all  it  is  he  who 
gives  to  the  sentences  of  Emerson  or  Shaw  their  tone. 
The  French  worded  deep  wisdom  when  they  said  c'est 
le  ton  qui  fait  la  musique.     As  one  is  predisposed  so 


will  he  welcome  and  interpret  the  message  of  the 
author  who  addresses  him.  Approval  and  disapproval 
depend  largely  upon  factors  of  the  personal  equation. 
Scholars  have  to  be  on  their  guard  against  their  in- 
trusion. Interpretations  of  ancient  writers  and  writ- 
ings are  apt  to  be  colored  by  the  personal,  political 
and  social  and  economic  and  religious  leanings  of 
their  modern  reader.  The  chosen  minds  are  few  who 
may  see  as  Moses  is  said  to  have  seen  the  Deity,  that 
is  Truth,  face  to  face.  The  less  gifted  prophets  have 
visions  but  these  are  dulled.  They  are  reflected  from 
blurred  mirrors.  The  son  of  Amram  looked  thru  a 
transparent,  finely  ground  glass.  (Leviticus  Rabba 
section  one,  compare  I.  Cor.  xiii.,  12.)  Of  suggestive 
significance  is  the  other  observation  credited  to  Rabbi 
Yehuda,  the  son  of  Il'ay,  that  Moses  saw  truth  thru 
one  and  the  same  glass  while  other  prophets  had  re- 
course to  nine  mirrors.  In  other  words  the  man  of 
genius  is  free  from  the  shifting  accidents  of  mood  and 
atmosphere.  His  medium  does  not  change  from  hour 
to  hour.  Less  competent  minds  have  great  difficulty 
to  maintain  themselves  free  from  the  bondage  to  im- 
pressions which  vary  as  their  differing  pre-occupa- 
tions  exact  tribute  from  them. 

This  is  the  fate  of  the  written  word  held  in  the 
straight  jacket  of  pen  and  print.  To  use  a  Rabbinic 
idiom  if  the  flame  consumes  the  cedar  tree  what  may 
the  little  hyssop  bough  expect?  What  about  the  re- 
ception accorded  the  fugitive  spoken  sound  and 
syllable?  Hearing  is  by  far  a  more  elusive  art  than 
seeing.  Often  one  single  expression  alone  lays  hold 
of  our  memory  so  strongly  that  what  preceded  and 
followed  is  totally  obliterated.  May  I  venture  to  cite 
to  the  witness  stand  my  own  little  grandson?  Two 
of  his  great-grandfathers  you  know  were  Rabbis,  I  his 
grandfather  also  am  of  the  profession,  and  his  own 


father  in  a  fit  of  mental    aberration    I    suppose    had 
given  his  brilliant  brain  to  the  Jewish   ministry,  an 
active  and  very  highly  honored  teacher  now  in  one  of 
our  sister  ^congregations.     Yet  with   all  these   ante- 
cedents shall  I  say  to  his  credit,  the  lad  coming  home 
from  Sunday  School  one  day  reported  upon  inquiry 
that  that  morning  he  had  been  taught  there  is  no  God. 
Upon  further  searching  it  was  found  that  at  the  ser- 
vice    there     had    been     read     the     passage,     "There 
is    no    God    besides    Thee."      This    qualifying    addi- 
tion  had   escaped   the   attention   of  the  young  pupil. 
Men  of  maturer  years  than  he  have  fallen  into  sim- 
ilar error.    One  broken  phrase  will  stick  in  their  mem- 
ory and  upon  it  they  build  the  account  of  the  preach- 
er's  declarations.     Others   and   their  number  is   not 
small  unconsciously  and  unintentionally  misconstrue 
the  purport  of  whatever  statement  may  be  made  in 
their   hearing.      Complained   another    Sunday   School 
attendant  that  the  teacher  was  terribly  conceited  for 
he  had  emphatically  bidden  his  class  know,  "I  am  the 
Lord ;  thou  shalt  have  no  other  God  before  my  face." 
Yea  c'est  le  ton  qui  fait  la  musique.    Even  the  speak- 
er's voice  is  an  element  of  considerable  consequence. 
The  boy  writing  home  for  money  to  his  father  not 
initiated    into    the    mysteries    of    the    alphabet,    was 
granted  or  was  refused  the  stipend  according  as  his 
request   happened   to   be   read   to   pater  by   his    soft 
spoken  sister  at  home  or  by  the  gruff  voiced  butcher 
boy  in  the  shop. 

In  days  like  these  when  hysteria  is  epidemic  public 
speaker  is  exposed  more  than  ever  to  misunderstand- 
ings. Who  of  us  may  claim  exemption  from  the  psy- 
chosis brought  on  by  this  terrible  strain  which  is  upon 
nation  and  individual?  Indeed  if  ever  there  was  need 
for  you  and  me  of  prayerful  thought  there  is  now. 
Humbly  I  ask  that  such  words  only  be  laid  this  morn- 


ing  on  my  lips  as  shall  not  blur  my  intended  mean- 
ing, and  that  to  you  be  given  such  charity  and  clarity 
as  will  forefend  your  misconstruing  my  views  or 
your  drawing  from  them  erroneous  conclusions.  Were 
it  not  presumptuous  I  should  petition  that  unto  me  be 
granted  the  diction  of  the  prophets  who,  say  the  Rab- 
bis, spoke  in  "holy  language,  in  pure  language,  in  clear 
language,  yea  in  the  tongue  in  which  the  angels  sing 
God's  sanctity."  (Midrash  Wayikra  Rabba,  i.,  14.) 
Wekara  zeh  el  zeh  such  strains  as  will  call  forth  re- 
sponsive, joyful  assent. 

Last  Sunday  at  the  first  session  of  the  Conference 
on  Religion  and  Synagog  held  in  this  auditorium  a 
young  and  brilliant  colleague  of  mine  inspired  and  in- 
structed those  of  us  who  sat  at  his  feet  in  words  of 
heartening  wisdom.  He  convinced  us  that  the  lamp 
of  religion  will  not  be  quenched  by  the  torrents  of 
blood  and  tears  poured  out  at  the  shrine  of  hideous 
as  well  as  holy  War.  He  was  sure  that  it  was  even 
now  rising  to  new  influence  among  men.  Needless 
for  me  to  say  that  1  did  not  in  all  details  share  his 
confidence  and  construction.  Perhaps  his  understand- 
ing of  the  meaning  of  religion  and  its  function  and 
mine  lie  in  different  planes.  But  it  was  his  masterful 
exposition  that  suggested  to  me  the  theme  for  our 
study  this  morning.  Without  trying  to  lift  the  cur- 
tain from  off  the  days  and  doings  to  come  after  the 
paroxysm  of  passion  now  gripping  men  shall  be 
stilled,  I  would  search  for  signposts  along  human- 
ity's present  Golgotha  from  the  tell-tale  inscriptions 
of  which  the  religionist  may  draw  some  comfort. 

Of  course,  the  devotee  of  true  religion  feels  keenly 
the  sad  disappointment  that  as  yet  Isaiah's  forevision 
of  God-guarded  Peace  has  not  been  fulfilled.  Yet 
awful  War  has  taught  the  world  anew  the  tremendous 
meaning  of  Duty.     In  so  far  it  has  lent  tremendous 

6 


emphasis  to  Judaism's  sacramental  syllables.  Mitz- 
wah  and  the  verb  from  which  the  noun  is  derived 
abound  and  stand  forth  solemnly  in  Judaism's  vocab- 
ulary. 'Hobh,  sacred  obligation,  too,  rings  with  a 
sonorously  Jewish  appeal.  Duty  more  than  rights, 
responsibility  more  than  privilege,  are  the  keys  in 
which  Judaism  modulates  and  melodies  life's  rhythms. 
In  this  crisis  Jew  found  himself  confronted  by  no 
necessity  to  acquire  a  new  alphabet  in  which  to  write 
out  his  convictions.  Duty  called  him  and  he  answered 
with  a  glad  Hinneni,  Here  I  am.  That  call  for  him 
was  God's  voice.  In  every  land  he  rose  with  the  de- 
termination Na'aseh  we  nishma'  to  do  and  only  later 
reason.  Certainly  the  Jew  who  had  voluntarily 
or  at  birth  been  consecrated  a  citizen  of  our  belov- 
ed and  free  land  never  hesitated  for  never  so  brief  a 
moment.  When  the  decision  had  been  taken 
which  sent  our  armies  into  the  trenches,  the 
Jew  at  once  knew  where  his  duty  lay,  and 
he  did  it.  The  aims  of  the  conflict  as  spec- 
ified by  the  President  ring  true  to  the  deepest 
harmonies  of  our  religion.  Not  conquest  and  not  spoil 
but  justice  and  freedom  are  set  forth  as  the  goal  which 
it  is  ours  to  reach.  Our  way  is  across  thorns  and  over 
stones.  It  urges  us  on  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death.  Our  boys  donned  the  Khaki,  a  uniform 
more  honorable  and  honored  than  which  no  general 
ever  wore,  an  apparel  worthy  of  the  Melekh  ha-Kab- 
hod,  the  glorious  ruler  whose  entrance  into  the  joy- 
stirred  capital  the  Hebrew  song  celebrates  in  jubilant 
acclaims.     (Psalm  xxiv.) 

Many  among  us  learned  how  to  apply  anew 
the  old  Jewish  lesson  of  Duty.  In  the  piping 
days  of  peace  numerous  were  they  who  regarded 
the  nation  as  a  convenient  device  for  their  pro- 
tection in  the  pursuit  of  private  aims  and  even  per- 


haps  while  engaged  in  a  refined  and  secret  predatory 
raid  upon  the  property  of  the  less  wary  neighbors. 
Private  interests,  at  the  utmost,  class  ambition  and 
benefits  were  in  the  foreground  of  what  public  solici- 
tude they  displayed.  Their  recurring  refrain  ran  to 
the  insistence  that  the  administration  had  no  other 
business  than  to  do  something  for  each  and  every 
one  of  their  cotery.  Politicians  clamored  for  office, 
merchants  for  tariffs  and  schedules  of  railroad  rates 
so  devised  as  to  confer  advantages  on  them  at  the 
expense  of  others.  The  laboring  men  in  their  turn 
wanted  legislation  to  further  their  cause.  They  had 
indeed  greater  justification  for  their  demands  and  ex- 
pectations than  all  other  claimants  for  favors  at  the 
hands  of  Congress  and  the  Executive  branches  of  our 
government.  Even  the  occasional  outbursts  of  patriot- 
ism the  skyrockets  at  national  festivities  invariably 
ran  to  statistics  about  commerce  and  industry,  about 
the  output  of  mills  and  mines,  about  the  crops  of  corn 
and  wheat,  about  bales  of  cotton  and  tons  of  iron. 
That  fundamentally  each  of  us  was  part  of  the  gov- 
ernment and,  that  not  merely  with  his  personal  secur- 
ity and  material  success  in  view,  only  at  rare  intervals 
dimly  glimmered  upon  our  thinking.  Yea  we  were 
impatient  of  the  men  who  from  platform  and  pulpit 
would  presume  to  suggest  the  truer  theory  of  the  in- 
dividual's relations  to  organised  society  and  the  deeper 
intent  of  patriotism.  The  grim  hand  of  war  gripping 
us  has  opened  our  eyes  to  a  wider  and  nobler  outlook. 
We  are  beginning  to  comprehend  that  nation  spells 
priesthood  and  patriotism  consecration.  One  is  called 
to  stand  with  all,  and  serve  at  the  altar  not  of  his 
petty  and  selfish  needs  and  plans  but  at  that  high- 
altar  of  the  common  weal  and  wealth,  the  nation's 
destiny  and  design.  Life,  limb,  are  not  ours  in  the 
sense  in  which  we  used  so  comfortably  to  construe 

8 


our  proprietorship.     Duty  demands  the  supreme  sac- 
rifice and  sanctifies  it. 

In  musty  tomes  of  controversial  theology,  the  asser- 
tion is  frequent  that  Judaism's  is  dimmer  than  the 
Church's  taper  in  as  much  as  no  torch  is  lit  to  light 
up  the  path  to  individual  salvation.  Israel  has  always 
accentuated  the  community.  Thru  the  all  the  one 
sought  and  found  content  and  contentment  for  his 
own  personality.  Scramble  for  individual  salvation, 
the  "hitting  of  the  trail"  alone  and  in  solitude  and 
selfishness  was  never  a  Jewish  pastime  or  passion. 
OUR  father,  OUR  God  and  God  of  OUR  forefathers 
are  the  apostrophes  of  the  Jewish  tongue  when  phras- 
ing laudation  and  supplication  to  the  God  of  the  All. 
WE  have  sinned,  confessed  even  he  who  may  have 
believed  himself  to  be  free  of  transgression  knowing 
that  for  the  shortcomings  of  the  community  he  too 
was  responsible.  It  is  this  consciousness  of  com- 
munity-Duty and  Danger  which  war  accentuates.  It 
lays  on  the  young  and  vigorous  the  heavier  toll.  But 
it  also  wings  knowledge  of  requiting  compensation. 
Selfishness,  at  least  individual  selfishness,  is  burned 
away  in  the  searching  fires  of  this  furnace.  As  long 
as  President  Wilson's  words  remain  our  pole  stars 
national  egotism  will  not  infest  us  to  rob  the  sacrifice 
which  Duty  to  our  Country  exacts  of  its  justifying 
sublimity.  Jewish-  religiosity  in  this  has  certainly  not 
been  put  to  the  blush.  Be  he  born  in  the  United 
States  or  an  adopted  son  of  the  nation  marching  under 
the  Star  Spangled  Banner  the  Jew  obeys  his  religion's 
injunction  and  is  free  from  the  bitterness  which  per- 
haps may  fill  the  heart  of  soldiers  under  other  flags 
that  the  cause  is  not  just. 

Studied  from  another  angle  War  has  confirmed  an- 
other fundamental  conception  of  the  Jewish  construc- 
tion of  life.    Before  these  trying  days  some  of  us  occa- 


sionally  would  point  out  that  private  wealth  and  prop- 
erty spelled  high  obligation.  Power  and  possession 
lost  their  justification  the  moment  they  were  twisted 
into  privileges  and  tools  for  exploiting  the  personality 
of  others.  Such  theories  would  of  course  be  received 
with  an  indulgent  smile,  sometimes  however  also  with 
an  angry  frown.  They  passed  among  the  good- 
natured  beneficiaries  of  our  imperfectly  adjusted  social 
system  for  vagaries  of  idealists,  perhaps  of  slightly 
unbalanced  fanatics.  The  preacher  would  be  patted 
patronisingly  on  the  back.  Good  talk  he  was  told 
that  was  for  Sunday  but  weekday,  stress  and  strife 
followed  its  own  inexorable  rules.  In  commerce  and 
the  trades  the  Law  of  the  Jungle  implacably  obtained. 
The  race  was  to  the  swift,  the  booty  to  the  strong,  the 
prize  to  the  crafty  and  circumspect.  God  indeed  was 
for  all  but  the  Devil  take  the  hindmost.  And  now. 
From  the  National  Sinai  a  new  Decalog  has  thundered 
forth  unmistakably,  yea  majestically,  reading  the  lines 
of  the  Tablets  in  terms  bordering  on  what  you  used 
to  shudder  at  and  denounce  as  socialism.  Your 
property  is  not  your  own.  You  hold  your  warrant 
for  its  administering  from  the  Government.  You  are 
its  stewards,  its  trustees.  What  percentage  of  your 
earnings  or  part  of  your  wealth  shall  directly  be 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  it  is  not  for 
you  to  determine.  In  proportion  as  you  have,  you 
must  give.  Voluntarily,  spontaneously,  if  you  will, 
but  in  the  last  analysis  the  Community,  the  Nation, 
has  proprietary  and  prior  rights.  These  are  not  new 
theories.  They  who  have  paid  attention  to  the  legis- 
lation of  Scripture  have  abundant  proof  at  hand  to 
substantiate  the  assertion  that,  where  informed  of  the 
Jewish  spirit,  property  never  outweighed  personality, 
that  in  the  foreground  of  Pentateuchal  legislation's 
solicitude   stands   soul  not  soil,  man  free,  the  social 

10 


factor,  the  co-worker  in  the  great  work  of  God's  cre- 
ation as  the  Rabbis  so  happily  and  so  pithily  put  the 
idea.  Our  many  and  varied  contributions  to  war 
funds,  our  subscriptions  to  Liberty  Loans  chime  well 
with  the  fundamental  teachings  of  our  religion.  The 
true  Jew  requires  no  urging  to  be  mindful  that  his  sav- 
ings and  his  earnings  are  not  his  own  in  the  sense 
that  he  may  give  of  his  holdings  when  and  what  he 
chooses  and  may  refuse  to  carry  his  part  of  the  burden 
when  and  as  he  lists.  The  Rabbis  changing  the  vow- 
eling  of  the  Hebrew  word  for  "engraved  'haruth"  into 
'heruth  Freedom  , tell  us  that  freedom  was  the  divine 
inscription  on  the  Tablets.  Freedom  mark  well,  and 
just  for  this  the  ''ten  words"  were  commands,  were 
vocalised  duties.  Service  is  the  equivalent  of  liberty 
according  to  Jewish  reading.  Wealth  is  learning  this 
lesson.  The  Jew  had  -but  to  open  his  charter-books 
to  find  it  impressively  enunciated.  And  he  has  indeed 
lived  that  lesson  under  severe  trials  of  centuried  dura- 
tion. 

A  third  emphasis  the  war  has  brought  to  universal 
recognition.  Is  Food  our  own  even  after  we  have 
paid  its  price?  Have  we  the  right  to  waste  it?  Before 
this  time  of  searching  and  self-examination  few  were 
they  who  would  have  tolerated  the  intrusion  upon 
them  of  the  theory  that  the  most  plethoric  purse  is 
morally  restricted  in  the  use  and  is  restrained  from 
the  abuse  of  the  things  men  need  for  their  sustenance. 
Were  not  corners  run  in  the  staff  of  life  and  other 
articles  of  prime  human  necessity?  The  Jewish  Law 
IS  informed  of  the  truer  conception.  Our  chapter  this 
morning  reminds  us  that  none  could  dispose  of  the 
corner  of  his  field  as  he  desired.  To  the  poor  and  the 
stranger  a  part  of  the  harvest  belonged.  Those  of  you 
who  have  been  brought  up  in  the  old  Jewish  ways  re- 
member what  importance  was  attached    to    the    old 

11 


y 


Jewish  injunction  Bal  Tash'heth.  Nothing  was  per- 
mitted to  go  to  waste.  Not  even  a  scrap  of  paper  was 
thrown  fooHshly  away  or  spoiled.  The  consciousness 
was  ever  active  in  the  Jew  that  another  might  need 
the  crumbs  from  the  richer  table. 

Bread  was  something  holy  where  the  family  table 
was  likened  unto  an  altar  and  the  altar  again  was 
named  a  family  table  a  Shul'-han.  Under  the  lash  we 
are  learning  as  a  people  this  good  old  Jewish  teach- 
ing. Waste  has  to  a  certain  extent  been  the  besetting 
sin  of  our  lightmooded  nation.  We  owned  a  conti- 
nent of  apparently  inexhaustible  stores  of  plenty. 
Iron,  coal,  cotton,  corn,  wheat  and  what  not  repaid 
our  industry  in  such  abundance  that  never  the  thought 
approached  us  there  might  strike  the  hour  bidding  us 
be  thrifty  and  saving.  God  had  favored  us  as  he  had 
no  other  branch  of  the  human  family.  A  virgin  con- 
tinent welcomed  the  pioneer's  axe  and  the  farmer's 
plough.  Mines  and  mountains  treasuring  the  riches 
of  the  ages  had  waited  for  our  coming  to  open  at  our 
knocking  their  treasury-chambers.  They  repaid  most 
liberally  the  prospector's  daring  and  the  engineer's 
skill.  Other  nations  had  to  find  nourishment  for  sev- 
enty millions  of  men  from  a  territory  scarce  as  large 
as  one  of  our  States,  Texas.  And  their  soil  was  by 
no  means  as  fertile  and  the  climate  as  varied  as  ours. 

The  religionist  may  well  exclaim  Odekha  Ki  Inni- 
thani,  voweling  the  verse  dififerently  from  the  received 
text, — I  thank  Thee  for  thy  chastising.  This  new  tho 
heart-searching  experience  is  bound  to  wean  our  peo-» 
pie  of  their  thoughtlessness  and  impress  upon  them 
the  sacredness  of  food.  The  altruism  which  has  found 
such  stirring  expression  in  President  Wilson's  ad- 
dresses now  will  take  its  seat  at  our  table.  I  trust 
this  consecration  will  outlast  the  calamity  which  has 
recalled  us  to  the  better  conviction.     None  shall  go 

12 


hungry  hereafter,  even  if  to  bring  this  about  we  shall 
have  to  forego  revelling  in  boastful  luxury  and  indulg- 
ing in  overfeeding. 

But  shall  I  then  count  War  a  blessing?     I  for  one 
cannot.    As  a  Jew  I  cannot  but  remember  that  one  of 
our  Prophets  and  his  words  are  incorporated  twice  in 
Scripture  rhapsodised  about  the  happier  time   when 
the  sword  shall  be  turned  into  ploughshare.     I  cannot 
forget  the  solemnity  which  the  Jewish  spirit  reads  into 
the  word  Peace  the  prayers  breathed  in  every  syna- 
gogal  service  for  its  establishment  among  men.    The 
Rabbis  knew  that  this  goal  was  on  the  crest  of  as  yet 
not  fully  mastered  mountains.     Bidding  Godspeed  to 
the  living  they  would  send  him  on  his  errand  with 
the  exhortation   Lekh  la-shalom,  proceed   on  toward 
peace.     The  dead  they  sped  on  their  way  to  eternal 
rest  with  the  salutation   Lekh  ba-shalom, — Go  Thou 
in  peace.    To  my  thinking  war  is  God's  rod.    Tt  is  not 
for  me  to  analyse  the   conditions  which  led  to  this 
present  eruption  of  Titanic  furies,  fuelled  for  many 
decades  of  intrigue  in  volcanic  abysses  of  diplomacy 
and  trickery.     When  Congress  had  spoken  for  us,  an 
American,  I  had  no  right  to  dissent.     I  had  to  obey 
the   Law   and   I   did   obey   it.     Our   enemy's   govern- 
ment had  invaded  our  sovereign  rights.     1  had  hoped 
that  this  might  not  come  about.     That  it  has  is  not 
our  nation's  fault  or  wilful  plotting.     And  yet  I  feel 
that  looking  deeper  into  the  temper  and  the  ambition 
of  our  generation  one  must  come  to  the  conclusion 
that    disregard    of    the    principle    announced    by    the 
Psalmist,    is    the    mother    of    all    this    misery.      Said 
the  Jewish  singer :  "The  heavens  are  the  heavens  unto 
God  but  the  earth  He  gave  to  the  sons  of  men."   This 
earth  is  large  enough  for  all  of  God's  children  and  the 
sea  ought  to  be  the  highway  for  all,  open  to  all  who 
have  to  send  forth  the  fruit  of  their  toil  to  distant 

13 


ports.  This  greed  for  territory,  for  supremacy  over 
other  men,  for  exclusive  markets  and  exclusive  na- 
tional glory  is  the  arch  sin  which  called  for  God*s 
punitive  correction.  Cain's  crime  according  to  the 
Rabbis  was  induced  by  his  desire  to  own  the  whole 
earth.  Even  such  peace  as  was  officially  es- 
tablished among  the  powers  was  but  an  armistice 
and  under  its  aegis  war,  commercial  war,  with  toll- 
gates  at  every  frontier  was  fiercely  waged.  Speaking 
of  Assyria,  Isaiah  hails  it  as  the  appointed  agent  of 
God's  will  appointed  to  bring  to  shame  the  haughti- 
ness and  pride  of  insolent  Israel.  The  prophet  de- 
plores, however,  that  instead  of  Recognising  this  in- 
tention of  God  the  victor  himself  lapsed  into  the  arro- 
gant self-idolatry  which  was  so  insufiferable  in  the 
chastised  people.  America  certainly  has  entered  the 
lists  as  scarce  ever  before  did  another  great  power. 
It  is  indeed  the  rod  of  God  which  it  is  called  to  wield. 
My  confidence  is  that  as  it  has  escaped  the  corrupt- 
ing by  national  presumptuousness  it  will  also  emerge 
from  the  battle  still  true  to  its  ideals  and  free  from 
the  contamination  which  in  the  case  of  Assyria  re- 
sulted so  disastrously. 

America  will  fight  the  war  also  as  no  other  nation 
ever  fought  one.  War  stirs  passion.  It  opens  the 
floodgates  wide  to  hate.  I  am  a  Jew  and  in  the  books 
I  find  it  written  and  I  have  heard  it  repeated  from 
many  lips  that  hatred  is  the  sorry  distinction  of  the 
Jew.  His  God  they  say  is  the  deity  of  revenge.  They 
have  ignorantly  and  not  infrequently  malicious- 
ly misread  Biblical  text  to  bolster  this  slan- 
der. "Mine  i.  e.  God's  is  vengeance,"  the 
poet  declares  (Deuteronomy  xxii.,  35)  putting 
into  the  mouth  of  God  his  own  theory  of  his- 
tory and  more  especially  his  reading  of  the  meaning 
of  his  own  people's  undoing.    The  old  seer  and  singer 

14 


saw  God's  hand  in  every  human  experience.  Calam- 
ity self-invited  by  wickedness  spelled  for  him  God's 
avenging  of  the  wrong  perpetrated.  But  to  infer  from 
this  that  Judaism  canonises  hate  is  committing  rape 
on  truth.  The  daily  prayer  of  a  Rabbi  unfortunately 
not  included  in  the  daily  liturgy  of  ours  was  a  petition 
that  "his  heart  be  kept  pure  from  hate  of  fellowman 
and  that  of  fellowman  from  hate  of  him."  The  doc- 
trine of  non-resistance  is  not  Jewish  and  yet  the  wife 
of  Rabbi  Meir  noble  Beruria  taught  her  husband  the 
vital  distinction  between  sin  and  sinner,  a  distinction 
drawn  in  the  very  text  of  the  Psalm,  the  cessation  of 
Hataim  sins  not  of  the  Hoteim  sinners  being  pre- 
dicted. She  would  pray  for  the  undoing  of  sin  not  of 
sinners.  You  recall  that  when  at  the  naval  battle  be- 
tween the  American  forces  and  those  of  Spain  the 
crew  of  Captain  Philipp's  ship  broke  out  into  cheers 
their  valiant  American  commander  bade  them  hush. 
"Those  poor  fellows  are  drowning,"  he  called  out  from 
the  bridge  in  the  very  hour  of  his  triumph.  The 
American  officer  did  not  know  that  he  was  almost 
literally  quoting  a  Rabbinical  observation.  When 
Pharaoh,  that  archtyrant,  prototype  of  Tzar  and 
Kaiser,  who  had  boastingly  declared,  "I  shall  draw  my 
sword ;  I  shall  pursue ;  I  shall  divide  the  spoil,  T  shall 
have  my  fill  of  carnage,"  had  met  his  doom  and  been 
swathed  by  death  in  the  shrouds  of  the  pitiless  sea,  so 
runs  a  Rabbinic  story,  the  angels  in  heaven  broke  out 
in  a  song  of  triumph  but  were  at  once  hushed  by  God. 
"The  works  of  my  hands  are  drowning  and  you  would 
sing  songs  unto  me?"  spoke  the  Almighty  in  rebuke 
of  their  misplaced  joy. 

Hate  like  bribes  blinds  the  eye.  Our  nation  is  not 
one  of  homogeneous  ethnological  strain.  Many  races 
and  nations  sent  their  sons  to  our  shores.  The  new- 
comers received  signal  favors  at  our  hand  but  they 

15 


also  contributed  mightily  to  our  civilisation,  our 
wealth  and  power.  Yet  hatred  will  breed  distrust. 
Let  an  incident  from  Jewish  history  warn  us.  During 
the  unequal  struggle  against  Rorne  patriotism  in- 
flamed by  hatred  of  the  oppressor  lept  to  unholy 
flames  in  Jerusalem.  Bands  of  Zealots  as  they  were 
called,  the  Kannaim,  impatient  of  the  slow  effect  of 
their  resistance  began  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of 
their  fellow  Jews.  Armed  with  short  swords,  hence 
they  came  to  be  dreaded  as  Siccarii,  they  ran  amuck 
killing  all  whom  they  suspected.  One  of  the  greatest 
teachers,  Yokhanan  ben  Sakkay,  incurred  their  dis- 
favor. He  had  to  seek  safety  in  flight  and  report  has 
it  that  he  had  to  be  carried  thru  the  gate  in  a  coflin, 
otherwise  he  would  have  fallen  a  prey  to  the  fanat- 
icism of  these  perfervid  patriots.  Measures  of  re- 
strictive force  to  hinder  the  intercourse  between  Jew 
and  non-Jew  are  found  in  Riabbinic  legislation  which 
owe  their  inception  to  these  men  of  exaggerated  hate. 
Even  so  during  the  French  revolution  the  circumspect 
were  branded  suspects.  May  a  good  God  forefend 
similar  ebullitions  in  our  land. 

Hate  does  not  strengthen  the  armor  of  the  nation. 
Such  talk  as  I  saw  in  a  report  of  a  meeting  only  this 
week  I  for  one  tho  I  respect  the  patriotism  of  the 
speaker  asking  that  our  sword  be  not  sheathed  until 
every  German  shall  have  disappeared  from  the  face 
of  earth  and  German  shall  be  a  dead  language 
cannot  but  have  a  heartening  effect  on  the  spirits  of 
our  enemy.  If  this  report  reaches  their  lines,  and  most 
likely  it  will,  it  will  play  into  the  hands  of  the  Junkers. 
Here  will  these  misleaders  of  their  people  say  to  the 
soldiers  and  the  women  at  home,  you  have  what  you 
may  expect.  Even  our  enemies  or  rather  the  people 
in  the  enemy  country  are  not  altogether  reft  of  human 
feelings.    They  will  continue  to  fight  for  their  homes 

16 


and  their  language  which  is  also  dear  to  them,  all  the 
more  fiercely  if  they  suspect  that  complete  destruc- 
tion is  the  punishment  prepared  for  them.  If  my  read- 
ing has  informed  me  rightly  the  men  in  the  trenches 
are  not  of  the  hating  mood.  That  pathetic  book  "le 
feu"  by  one  who  has  been  over  the  top  speaks  of  the 
soldiers  behind  the  opposing  lines  in  terms  of  pity. 
He  knows  that  they  too  suffer,  that  they  are  suffering 
for  their  country  be  the  government  under  which  they 
live  never  so  devilish  or  despotic.  But  why  do  they 
not  rise  up  in  revolution?  For  us  it  is  easy  to  give 
them  this  counsel.  But  do  we  not  believe  in  our  coun- 
try right  or  wrong?  Their  nation,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  no  less  a  man  than  President  Wilson,  has 
contributed  much  to  thie  store  of  civilisation.  To 
wipe  it  from  the  face  of  earth  will  neither  help  it  nor 
bring  gain  to  the  world  at  large.  Hate  will  not  en- 
able us  to  help  them  to  democratise  their  political  in- 
stitutions. They  will  trust  us  all  the  more  readily 
if  we  take  our  cue  from  our  President's  speeches  and 
messages.  I  for  one  cannot  overlook  the  paragraph 
in  the  holiness-Law  read  this  morning  from  the  scroll. 
Lo  thikkom  welo  thittor.  Thou  shalt  not  harbor  a  re- 
vengeful spirit.  Rebuke  thou  shalt  Thy  erring  brother 
but  not  hate  him  in  Thy  heart.  Significant  for  me  is 
a  very  keen  observation  credited  to  Rabbi  Samuel,  the 
son  of  Na'hman.  He  draws  attention  to  the  difference 
of  expression  in  Deuteronomy  xxvii.,  12  and  13.  They 
shall  bless  and  they  shall  stand  for  the  curse.  The 
blessing  is  as  it  were  an  outpouring  of  the  person  or 
the  tribe  charged  with  the  function.  The  curse  is 
meant  to  be  as  it  were  impersonal.  Certainly  we  shall 
defeat  the  German  government  and  in  doing  so  must 
chastise  their  people.  Does  a  surgeon  harbor  hatred 
against  the  patient  upon  whom  he  must  operate?  We 
are  appointed  surgeons  and  I  would  rather  be  filled 

17 


of  pity  than  of  hatred.  I  am  an  American.  But  I  am 
also  a  Jew.  I  know  that  I  and  fellow  Jews  thruout 
the  ages  have  been  condemned  for  deeds  never  done. 
Accusations  against  us  have  been  universally  believed 
for  which  there  is  no  basis  in  fact.  Remembering 
this  I  would  judge  our  enemy  lekaph  Zekhuth  giving 
him  and  his  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  This  will  not 
interfere  with  my  doing  all  I  am  able  to  accomplish 
to  bring  to  pass  that  which  President  Wilson  has 
named  our  purpose. 

Another  Rabbinical  parable  comes  to  mind  which  1 
would  apply  to  the  matter  before  us.  A  king,  so  runs 
the  anecdote,  had  a  keg  of  wine.  He  appointed  two 
sets  of  watchmen  to  stand  guard  over  it,  one  composed 
of  Nazirites,  who  were  under  the  vow  of  abstaining 
from  intoxicants,  the  other  of  known  topers.  The 
next  morning  he  paid  the  Nazirites  one  shilling  each 
while  to  the  topers  he  gave  two  shillings.  The  Nazi- 
rites grumbled.  Why  should  they  receive  only  half 
the  wage  paid  the  others.  Answered  the  King,  "You 
were  not  under  the  stress  the  others  were.  The  keg's 
content  meant  nothing  to  you ;  but  the  poor  topers 
had  a  hard  tustle  with  themselves."  Much  unjust  sus- 
picion is  about  concerning  the  loyalty  of  citizens  of 
German  birth  or  stock.  They  who  never  had  family 
ties  with  the  people  now  our  enemy  cannot  imagine 
what  heartaches  the  present  situation  entails  on  those 
that  have.  If  quarrel  breaks  out  between  a  man's 
mother  and  his  wife  none  who  is  a  man  will  for  one 
moment  doubt  where  he  will  stand.  He  will  be  found 
by  the  side  of  his  wife.  And  yet  may  he  not  deplore 
that  such  a  state  of  affairs  has  befallen  his  household? 
Will  he  not  as  long  as  open  hostilities  have  not  broken 
out  and  the  rupture  is  not  complete  be  justified  in 
trying  to  forestall  the  final  catastrophe?  May  he  not 
occasionally  try  and  find  excuses  for  the  conduct  of 

18 


his  mother?  They  say  she  is  a  hag.  Perhaps  she  is. 
But  this  will  only  intensify  his  heart-ache.  In  the 
position  of  the  son  whose  wife  for  good  reasons  has 
a  quarrel  with  the  mother  are  millions  of  our  fellow 
citizens.  They  are  as  it  were  the  topers  of  my  Rab- 
binical story.  Let  us  not  make  their  burden  harder 
by  unjustified  distrust.  Their  loyalty  is  above  sus- 
picion. The  moment  war  was  declared  there  was  for 
them  only  one  path  to  tread  and  that  was  the  path  of 
undivided  loyalty  to  their  oath.  But  that  path  for 
them  ran  across  Gethsemane.  They  are  walking  it 
in  strength  firmly  resolved  to  do  their  duty  without 
quibble  and  reservations. 

And  then  there  are  others  who  like  myself  have  re- 
ceived most  of  their  education  in  German  Universities. 
They  having  lived  among  the  people  learned  to  love 
many  of  them.  They  were  guests  at  their  table,  they 
used  to  break  bread  with  them ;  some  in  days  of  sick- 
ness were  nursed  back  to  health  by  them.  Is  it  Amer- 
ican-like to  ask  these  to  forget  all  the  kindness  of  which 
they  were  the  recipients,  all  the  benefits  they  derived 
from  the  schools  maintained  by  the  government  of  the 
several  States  in  the  Empire?  Their  heart,  too,  was 
heavy  when  the  German  government  forced  our  nation 
into  the  war.  It  took  some  time  for  these  and  those 
of  German  birth  to  become  adjusted  to  the  situation. 
Not  that  I  or  any  other  of  this  large  number  ever 
doubted  where  our  duty  lay.  To  this  country  and  to 
none  other  we  owe  loyalty;  to  it  we  would  give  and 
if  needs  be  shall  give  all  that  is  ours  to  the  last  drop 
of  blood  and  the  last  farthing  in  our  purse.  And  yet 
the  heart  did  ache  and  made  our  walk  into  the  valley 
of  decision  not  easy.  The  expedition  against  the 
Midianites  was  headed  by  Joshua  not  Moses.  Why? 
ask  the  Rabbis.  Moses,  explain  tKey,  had  been  re- 
ceived hospitably  at  one  time  by  the  now  enemy.    He 

19 


could  not  "cast  stones  into  the  well  from  which  he  had 
drunk."  Hate  we  shall  not  but  we  shall  stand  by  our 
flag.  Come  what  may  for  the  victory  of  that  flag  we 
shall  pray  and  work  with  undivided  loyalty.  None  of 
us  has  sympathy  with  aristocracy  and  autocracy,  with 
Junkerdom,  and  may  I  add,  "standpatters."  We  would 
have  everywhere  on  earth  a  government  "of  the  peo- 
ple, by  the  people  and  for  the  people."  But,  as  Lin- 
coln said,  "with  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  to 
all." 

Some  of  us  speak  the  German  language.    They  can- 
not   understand    the    reasonableness    of   the   outcry 
against  its  further  use  among  us.    Time  was  when  the 
right  of  this  language  to  be  cultivated  in  this  land 
was  acknowledged.     Not    a    political    campaign    but 
speakers  were  sent  out  to  address  citizens  of  German 
birth  in  their  native  dialect.     Even  now  the  govern- 
ment is  conducting  a  speaking  campaign  for  the  Lib- 
erty Loan  thru  foreign  language  sections  and  German 
is  not  under  the  ban.    Thought  not  tongue  makes  se- 
dition.   A  few  years  ago  our  service  and  the  preach- 
ing as  in  our  congregation  so  in  many  American  syn- 
agogs  were   conducted  in   German.     Were  the  wor- 
shippers disloyal?    Was  Einhorn  when  from  1856  to 
1861  he  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  Union  in  Baltimore 
not  truly  American  in  his  sentiments  and  convictions 
tho  his    German   sermons   rivaled   in   superbness   the 
diction  of  Goethe  and  to  his  dying  day  he  voiced  his 
staunch  Americanism  in    German    sounds?     Or    was 
Liebman  Adler  in  this  city  not  loyal  when  during  the 
Civil  War  from  his  pulpit  he  preached  against  national 
distintegration  and  slavery  but  did  this  in  German? 
Or  was  I  not  an  interpreter  of  American  ideas  when 
at  the  Congress  of  Liberal  Religions  convened  in  Ber- 
lin in  1910  in  their  own  tongue    1   described    to    the 
Germans  the  freedom  of  American  Churches  and  Syn- 

20 


agogs  and  showed  how  under  that  freedom  religion 
did  come  to  its  own  as  never  it  does  under  autocracy? 
Was  I  less  American  when  last  Monday  in  Hebrew 
in  answer  to  the  eloquent  plea  of  a  Judean  native  of 
Jerusalem  I  told  him  that  we  Jews  of  America  will 
not  exchange  our  star  bejeweled  flag  for  the  standard 
of  Zionism?  Was  I  disloyal  or  unpatriotic  because  my 
convictions  were  articulated  in  Hebrew  syllables?  As 
a  matter  of  fact  our  co-belligerents  are  studying  this 
enemy  idiom  now  even  more  zealously  than  before  the 
war.  W^hat  language  could  we  have  spoken  in  this 
land  when  we  were  at  war  with  England  if  the 
enemy's  is  breeding  treason? 

There  is  an  imprecatory  prayer  in  the  old  Jewish 
prayerbook  directed  against  the  Malshinim,  the  tra- 
ducers  and  denouncers.  Jews  from  of  old  have  suf- 
fered grievously  from  men  of  this  stamp.  We  have, 
this  goes  without  saying,  eliminated  this  petition  from 
our  ritual.  Malshinim  may  well  be  rendered  "tongue- 
waggers."  They  who  provoked  Rabban  Gamliel  to 
include  among  the  most  solemn  prayers  of  the  ser- 
vice a  petition  that  no  hope  be  vouchsafed  unto  them 
were  not  aliens.  They  were  of  Jewish  blood  and 
birth.  Inured  to  suffering  as  Israel  was  the  misery 
brought  upon  them  by  these  talebearers  was  of  such 
refined  cruelty  that  the  faithful  were  amply  excused 
for  their  outcry  addressed  to  heaven.  Hostility  from 
without  was  never  cause  for  despair  in  Jewry.  The 
enemy  whom  they  dreaded  was  the  apostate  and  de- 
famer  cradled  within  the  Jewish  home.  He  willfully 
and  maliciously  sought  to  disunite  the  faithful  to  in- 
terfere with  their  study  of  theTorah  with  the  prac- 
tice of  their  religion.  He  never  hesitated  to  resort 
to  willful  falsehood. 

Ours  be  the  warning.  Death  and  life  says  the  wise 
man  in  the  good  book  are  in  the  power  of  the  tongue. 

21 


(Proverb  xviii,  21.)  An  ancient  translator  gives  the 
sentence  a  still  more  suggestive  setting.  Spoon  (or 
perhaps  a  piece  of  bread  shaped  like  a  spoon)  and 
sword  are  linked  to  the  tongue.  The  life  sustaining 
and  subserving  tool  as  well  as  the  instrument  of  ruth- 
less death.  Were  the  times  of  ordinary  flow  and 
rhythm  the  truth  of  this  observation  might  well  be 
heeded.  In  these  days  of  doubt  and  danger  of  passion 
and  pressure  of  stress  and  distress  certainly  the  tale- 
bearer's trade  should  be  despised  and  be  stamped  out. 
Rattle  snakes  give  warning  before  they  jump  on  their 
prey.  The  "Holekh  Rakhil  the  whisperer"  goes  about 
stealthily.  The  chapter  from  which  the  foregoing 
observation  on  the  tongue's  potentiality  is  taken  con- 
tains other  verses  to  the  same  purport.  The  eighth 
and  the  ninth  according  to  Aben  Ezra  must  be  read 
connectedly,  then  their  full  intent  is  brought  out. 
"While  the  words  of  the  whisperer  are  dainty  morsels 
which  go  down  into  the  innermost  parts  of  the  belly 
(a  luscious  bit)  he,  because  he  does  not  mind  his  own 
business,  (but  pries  into  and  mouths  about  the  doings 
and  sayings  of  others)  is  a  brother  to  him  that  is  a 
destroyer."  May  a  good  God  protect  us  from  the  in- 
sidious destruction  which  dogs  the  soft  heeled  steps 
of  the  defamer.  Need  I  add  the  anecdote  about  the 
good  servant  of  the  Rabbi,  who  sent  to  market  with 
the  commission  to  buy  the  best  it  afforded,  brought 
home  a  tongue  and  the  next  day,  sent  out  to  procure 
the  w^orst  there  on  sale,  again  returned  carrying  a 
tongue?  Leprosy,  say  the  Rabbis,  is  produced  by  the 
evil  tongue.  Metzora'  leper,  they  would  read  Motzi- 
Ra',  the  spreader  of  evil  and  unfounded  reports.  May 
a  Good  God  protect  our  nation  from  this  sort  of  lep- 
rosy. 

The    Pulpit    must   stand   out   against   this   plague. 
We     shall      continue     to      teach     the      religion      of 

22 


Duty  but  of  Mercy  withal.  Yea  even  in  these 
days  we  shall  protest  against  the  spreading  of 
views  which  would  bar  us  as  non-Christian  from 
claiming  this  as  our  country.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Christian  state  is  a  favorite  argument  among  our  ene- 
mies. They  more  than  any  other  people  have  based 
upon  this  confusion  their  anti-Semitism."  Civilisation 
is  broader  than  is  covered  by  any  one  sectarian  adjec- 
tive or  national  qualification.  Judaism  certainly  has 
taught  the  basic  principles  upon  which  the  Temple  of 
the  true  humanities  rests.  What  we  shall  never  for- 
get is  that  a  united  nation  shall  march  out  to  do  the 
consecrated  task  come  to  it.  The  sons  of  Anglo- 
and  German-Americans,  the  men  of  Italian  an- 
tecedents and  Slav  traditions,  of  Trish  stock  and 
Scandinavian  blood  all  baptised  in  the  holy 
water  of  Liberty  and  Justice  shall  march  on 
to  victory  shoulder  to  shoulder  an  unbroken 
line  of  defenders  of  the  right.  Home  dissensions  and 
distrusts  shall  not  make  the  duty  of  our  soldiers  and 
sailors  more  perilous  than  it  is.  Christian,  Moham- 
medan, Jew,  non-believer  all  alike  have  been  called 
and  they  have  answered  the  call.  A  truce  to  suspicion, 
a  truce  to  hatred,  a  truce  to  fetishism  of  words  and 
labels. 

Religion,  however,  must  also  keep  the  home  line. 
The  hour  of  worship  shall  not  always  be  under  the 
obsession  of  the  fearful  reality.  Just  because  the 
strain  is  so  awful  the  pulpit  shall  point  to  the  heights 
alas  now  shrouded  in  clouds.  Would  you  ask  of  the 
symphony  orchestra  to  devote  every  concert  to  mar- 
tial airs?  I  know  we  do  not.  It  was  my  good  fortune 
yesterday  to  attend  one  of  these  wonderful  concerts 
for  which  our  home  orchestra  is  so  famous.  Yet  mas- 
ters of  enemy  birth  were  given  audience  and  from 
them  we  drank  in  courage  and  inspiration.     Similarly 

23 


the  sermon  in  these  trying  weeks  must  not  neglect 
other  altitudes.  Tt  should  speak  of  universal  truths, 
of  hopes  and  certainties  which  are  ever  knocking  at 
the  doors  of  our  hearts  and  minds.  Not  to  phrase  at 
every  service  the  challenge  of  the  times  is  not  symp- 
tom of  indifference.  It  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  keep 
nerves  and  feelings  keyed  to  high  and  eternal  verities 
since  the  harsh  realities  are  so  heavily  pressing.  Yea 
religion  shall  not  stifle  the  cry  for  peace.  Such  a 
peace  as  President  Wilson  is  ready  to  negotiate  will 
be  a  victory  for  America,  a  defeat  of  Despotism. 
Some  years  ago  it  fell  to  my  lot  in  the  Metropolitan 
City  of  the  East  to  speak  of  Lincoln.  To  me  came 
words  descriptive  of  our  flag.  I  hailed  it  as  the  flag 
that  had  borrowed  the  velvet  of  the  sky  for  the 
cushion  of  the  stars  and  then  festooned  this  pillow 
with  the  blushes  of  the  dawn  and  the  streamers  an- 
nouncing peace.  Yea  even  now  would  I  hail  the 
stripes  in  red  as  harbingers  of  a  new  day  and  the  clear 
ribbons  of  white  as  the  foretellers  of  the  Messianic 
time  of  Peace  universal.  Peace  pillared  like  God's 
throne  on  Justice,  Righteousness,  Love  and  Liberty. 

That  flag,  our  flag, 

Long  may  it  wave 

Over  the  "world"  of  the  free. 

The  home  of  the  brave. 


24 


Reprinted 

FROM 

THE    REFORM    ADVOCATE 

7  S.  DEARBORN  Street  ChIcaoo    III 


^i'M-.^- 


ILLINOIS  KiSTORICAL  SURV  ' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  031889014 


